Competitiveness

Candidates unopposed by a major party

In 61 (51%) of the 120 districts up for election in 2014, there was only one major party candidate running for election. A total of 34 Republicans and 27 Democrats were guaranteed election barring unforeseen circumstances.

Two major party candidates faced off in the general election in 59 (49.1%) of the 120 districts up for election. Nine of those seats held competitive elections in 2012 with a margin of victory ranging from zero to five percent. Six other elections were mildly competitive, with a margin of victory of five to ten percent. Those districts were:

District 6: Incumbent Paul Tine was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Mattie Lawson defeated Ashley Woolard in the Republican primary and was defeated by Tine in the general election. Tine won the general election by a margin of victory of 1 percent in 2012.

District 9: Incumbent Brian Brown defeated Ashley Bleau in the Republican primary. Brown went on to defeat Uriah Ward (D) in the general election. Brown won the general election by a margin of victory of 3 percent in 2012.

District 35: Incumbent Chris Malone (R) defeated Brian Mountcastle (D) in the general election. Malone won the general election by a margin of victory of 2 percent in 2012.

District 41: Incumbent Thomas Murry (R) was defeated by Gale Adcock (D) in the general election. Murry won the general election by a margin of victory of 4 percent in 2012.

District 92: Incumbent Charles Jeter (R) defeated Robin Bradford (D) in the general election. Jeter won the general election by a margin of victory of 3 percent in 2012.

District 93: Incumbent Jonathan Jordan (R) defeated Sue Counts (D) in the general election. Jordan won the general election by a margin of victory of 3 percent in 2012.

District 118: Incumbent Michele Presnell (R) defeated Dean Hicks (D) in the general election. Presnell won the general election by a margin of victory of 3 percent in 2012.

District 119: Incumbent Joe Sam Queen (D) was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Mike Clampitt defeated Dodie Allen and Aaron Littlefield in the Republican primary and was defeated by Queen in the general election. Queen won the general election by a margin of victory of 3 percent in 2012.

Primary challenges

A total of 19 incumbents faced primary competition on May 6. Nine incumbents did not seek re-election in 2014 and another 92 incumbents advanced past the primary without opposition. Three incumbents, one Democrat and two Republicans, were defeated by primary opponents. The state representatives who faced primary competition included:

Retiring incumbents

Nine incumbent representatives did not run for re-election, while 111 (92.5%) of the current 120 incumbents ran for re-election. A list of those incumbents, five Republicans and four Democrats, can be found above.

Qualifications

Article 2, Section 7 of the North Carolina Constitution states: Each Representative, at the time of his election, shall be a qualified voter of the State, and shall have resided in the district for which he is chosen for one year immediately preceding his election.